Ringer 1.14: "Whores Don't Make That Much"

“But she said it, Bridget, because she saw you in pain, and she wanted to help. Have you ever tried to forgive yourself?”
-Malcolm

“Whores Don’t Make That Much” had a few twists and turns, as all episodes of “Ringer” do, but it didn’t really have that on-the-edge-of-your-seat quality that the past few episodes have had. I did appreciate that we finally learned what came between Siobhan and Bridget (although Siobhan always seemed more cold than Bridget, even before this particular incident). The big scam/conspiracy involving Juliet also gets a lot deeper and more complicated, and can I say that I kind of hate Juliet’s mom, Catherine, now, even more than I did in previous episodes when she was just horribly bitchy to her daughter? So yeah, I appreciated learning all this information, but a big information-dump episode isn’t really exciting, and Ringer has to be exciting to be watchable. Well, okay, this was watchable, but it wasn’t really their best effort.

The episode opens with Bridget and Malcolm at Siobhan’s fancy office. The place has been completely cleaned out. Guess Siobhan or Henry (or both) got to it before Bridget an Malcolm could. Bridget explains what I didn’t really understand when she was talking about it in the last episode. Now that she knows Charlie/John was Siobhan’s friend, she has realized that somebody else must want to kill Siobhan. Somebody else must be behind the “you’ve got the wrong girl!” attack from the pilot. Malcolm is concerned, and he installs a tracking app on both their cell phones so they can’t lose track of each other again. Holy Chekhov’s gun, Batman!

Caroline pays Andrew a not-very-nice (big surprise) visit at the Martin-Charles offices. She wants to take Juliet back to Miami with her. She thinks Juliet could use a real fresh start after everything that has happened. Andrew has full custody of Juliet, though, because of Catherine’s history of alcoholism, and he’s ot enthusiastic about the idea. Catherine assures Andrew that she hasn’t had a sip of alcohol “in a few days” (big whoop), but that (rightfully) doesn’t really seem to impress Andrew. Later, Andrew talks to Bridget about the Juliet situation. His lawyer told him that they could have a real fight on their hands if Catherine decides to sue for custody, especially considering all the trouble Juliet has gotten into in New York. Bridget tries to give Andrew a bit of a pep talk, assuring him that he’s an “amazing” father and that Juliet belongs with them.

We next see Andrew and Malcolm at Martin-Charles. Malcolm has tweaked the computer program he’s been working on, and Andrew wants to check it out. He doesn’t have a chance to do so, though, because Henry is in his office. Malcolm leaves the room so Andrew and Henry can talk, but he keeps listening outside the door. Henry says he wants to take all of his money out of Martin-Charles because he’s been told by a “mutual friend” that Andrew is a crook. He challenges Andrew by saying that he’s been told that a crook won’t give him his money back. Andrew isn’t pleased, but he starts the process of getting Henry’s money. We later see Henry and Siobhan texting about this little incident. Siobhan is really concerned that Malcolm is now working for Martin-Charles, and she tells Henry to keep an eye on him. Taking Siobhan’s advice, Henry stops by Martin-Charles again and asks Malcolm if he’d be willing to do some work for him on his home computer. Malcolm is very reluctant at first, but when he sees Henry plunk down some items from his pocket, including the missing safe deposit box key Bridget told him about, Malcolm agrees. Good opportunity to do a little investigation, right?

Bridget gets a rather strange phone call from a flower shop about a standing order Siobhan had placed for flowers to be delivered each year on this particular day. The address for the delivery matches an address written on a post-it that Bridget saw in Siobhan’s office, so Bridget gets really curious. She watches from the street as the flowers are delivered, and then she walks up to the house. The woman who lives there is warm and welcoming, but then, thanks to a photograph on the mantle, Bridget realizes who she is. She’s the grandmother of Bridget’s nephew, Sean, who is Siobhan’s son. Clearly something horrible and awkward happened within the family, because as soon as Bridget realizes this, she hightails it out of that house as fast as she can. We see a flashback to seven years ago, when Bridget was watching Sean as Siobhan had a terrible argument with Sean’s father, Dylan. Siobhan wants to completely cut Dylan out of her and Sean’s lives, but Bridget seems to have some sympathy for Dylan.

Dinner at the Martin house that night is rather frosty. Looking at Juliet understandably makes Bridget think about Sean and how she apparently failed him. We get another seven years ago flashback, and this time Dylan comes over while Bridget is babysitting. He wants to take Sean to the county fair (Bridget can come too). Bridget reluctantly agrees, even though Siobhan had told her to call the police if Dylan ever showed up again. Back in the present, Juliet is freaked out by Bridget’s staring and asks to be excused. After she leaves, Bridget tells Andrew that she thinks maybe letting Juliet go to Miami isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Juliet and Mr. Carpenter meet up out on the street and Juliet tells him some troubling news. Tessa is flaunting the money she “earned” from the scam. She rolled up to school the other day in a brand new, expensive SUV. Mr. Carpenter is not happy about this at all, and he promises Juliet that he’ll “take care of it.” The next day, Juliet arrives at school to find all the students are very somber. Apparently Tessa was beaten badly in an attempted burglary. She’s in a medically induced coma. Juliet goes to see Tessa in the hospital, and Tessa’s foster mom says that the whole thing looks like a drug deal gone wrong. There was no other good explanation for why Tessa could suddenly afford a fancy car, and all the “burglar” took was something that was hidden under Tessa’s mattress. Juliet knows that’s where Tessa was (rather stupidly) keeping all of her scam money.

Dylan drops by the Martin apartment to tell “Siobhan” to stay away from his mother. Apparently she was really upset by their encounter the day before. “Siobhan” is furious, because she blames Dylan for “costing her everything,” and she kicks him out of the house. We then get another flashback, this time to Bridget, Dylan, and Sean presumably driving home from the county fair on a rainy night. Dylan asks Bridget if she would be willing to testify on his behalf at a custody hearing. Before he can really make his pitch, another car slams into the side of their car, causing a horrible crash. I guess we now know why Siobhan hates Bridget. We next see Bridget at Dylan’s house, looking at him and his new family (including a small daughter) through the front window. Bridget bends down to pick up a brick, presumably to throw it through the window, but Malcolm stops her. At a restaurant, Bridget tells Malcolm the whole story, and we get yet another flashback, this time of Siobhan slapping Bridget for showing up at Sean’s funeral. Malcolm tells Bridget that she really needs to forgive herself.

Juliet’s reading a story online about how there are no leads in Tessa’s case, and she’s really upset about it. Andrew pops his head in to try and offer some comfort. While he’s there, he asks Juliet if she, hypothetically, would be at all interested in moving to Miami. Juliet says yes. We next see Juliet walking down the street, where she’s pulled aside by Mr. Carpenter. He swears up and down that he didn’t hurt Tessa, and he seems surprised when Juliet says that Tessa’s share of the money is gone. Juliet threatens to scream and runs off, and then we see her get on her cell phone and tell someone that their plan has gotten out of control. We learn who this mysterious mastermind is at the end of the episode when Juliet is on a park bench talking to the mastermind about how out of control the scheme has gotten and how she thought Mr. Carpenter was going to kill her. The mastermind is Catherine, of course.

Bridget goes to visit Dylan, and they actually have a nice heart-to-heart. As “Siobhan” she tells him that she realizes now that what happened was an accident, and she forgives him. Back at the apartment, Andrew tells Bridget that he does actually think Juliet might need a fresh start, but he doesn’t think it should be with Catherine in Miami. I guess he wants the Martin family to move? Bridget assures Andrew that she’s behind him 100% no matter what he decides to do. Then she goes into another room and makes a phone call to Malcolm. She says she wishes she could be Bridget again. She wishes she could have given her own forgiveness to Dylan, and she wishes she could be Andrew’s wife and Juliet’s mother as herself instead of “Siobhan.” She says she hopes she can come clean someday, but she doesn’t know how to without losing all of the new people she loves and cares about.